New Years 2k11 In New Orleans

My fiance was invited to attend her sorority sister's wedding in New Orleans and we decided to make a trip of it. It was one trip that will go down in the record books. I doubt I'll ever forget the experience. The highlight of the trip was spending New Years walking Bourbon Street. I don't think I've had that much fun in years. A combination of traditional New Orleans music, grenades (I had two of em), bars on every corner, bull riding, horse petting, etc. it was a blast.

It was a trip that definitely awakened me and help me to really see that life is short. You never know when the big guy upstairs may call your number so you have to enjoy this life you have now. You can't keep putting off what can be done today in hopes that you'll have time to do it tomorrow. Sadly, tomorrow isn't promised on this earth. I don't think I'll go back to New Orleans anytime soon though. The trip was fun for what it was worth.

I was truly excited to see 2010 leave and anxious to bring in 2011. Prayerfully the big man upstairs will have a lot of favor, blessings, happiness, and peace to swing towards my way. Man I would be grateful.

Anyway, I'm off my soap box.

BLS Step Show Performance at the Riley House Rock A Thon

The Brothers of Beta Lambda performed our 2nd performance since I've been stepmaster of the alumni step team. We did pretty well to have put a show together in less than two weeks. (kudos to the bruhs

The history of the service event is below......

The Riley House is a historical and cultural gem that sits at the bottom of a hill in downtown Tallahassee, at the corner of Meridian and Jefferson Streets.

Nestled among beautiful shade trees, the John G. Riley historic home represents the thriving black neighborhood that once existed in what is just east of downtown Tallahassee. The Riley House is especially significant when compared to other such historical sites in that it is the last vestige we have of the accomplishments of an entire group of people, the black middle class, which emerged in the latter part of the nineteenth century.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the area just east of downtown Tallahassee and west of Myers Park Drive was an African American community called Smokey Hollow. According to the Tallahassee City Directory, published in 1904, there were five houses on Riley's block on Jefferson Street, all owned by black men. In 1919, there were six homeowners and they too were black. Several other homes, owned or rented by blacks, surrounded the Riley property, extending up College and Gadsden Streets. This situation changed in the 1950's, when plans for the Department of Transportation Building and the expansion of Apalachee Parkway encroached into the boundaries of the Smokey Hollow community. By 1978, only two houses remained, that of John Riley and John Hicks, a black tailor who lived across the street from Riley. Hicks died in the early 1970's and his home was purchased by Colmar Corporation for speculative purposes.

In 1978, through the efforts of local preservationists, the Riley House became the second house in Florida owned by a black person to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first being the Mary McLeod Bethune house in Volusia County.

In 1995, a group of Tallahassee citizens established a museum at the Riley House dedicated to African-American history and culture. This facility draws more visitors and tourist into the area while providing a historically diverse attraction.

Got to Have My Own

If it's one thing that's always been a part of me, it's having my own. I've always been a man who likes to do things for himself. I'm speaking more specifically to work. Every since I can remember being introduced to the concept of work, I've seen young, gifted, and African- American male entrepreneurs. Hell, my father owned several private businesses while I was growing up. I even had the chance to be employed by him lol. I don't know what it is but I think it's time for me to start researching where I want to invest my money. I need a business that I can call my own and bring more prestige to my already established family name.

Although my brain is tired from all of the thinking, I'm sure I'm on the brink of something big. We'll see where it leads me but in the meantime, I'll keep putting my axe to the grind. Who knows what the good lord may have in store for me. Some how I have a feeling that 2011 is going to be a great year. ::keeping fingers crossed::

Stay tuned because this 9-5 gig for somebody else is getting old.

I'm Out....

75 Years of Alpha Eta Excellence...

In the spirit of true and genuine brotherhood, it gives me great pleasure to give a shotout to all of my brothers of Alpha Eta chapter worldwide. December 6, 1935 was the day the world recieved this unique chapter and since then, we have been changing the Tallahassee community by way of the campus of Florida A&M University. Alpha Eta men have always stood out amongst the masses. We've had the pleasure of being chartered by one of our fraternity founders, MHF Leonard F. Morse. We've had the pleasure of being chartered by our fraternity's tenth international president MH Richard A. Billings. Lastly, we've had the pleasure of our chapter being chartered by the world renowned scientiests, MH George Washington Carver. We were also the first undergraduate chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. to be established in the great state of Florida.

Great men have come to our doors, petitioned our knowledge in hopes of membership, and grew through our ranks to affect the lives of those they've come in contact with. I could not see myself being born in and belonging to any of chapter in Sigmadom. Hats off to you Alpha Eta. It is here I learned the true essense of IYHIDM. I'll carry the experiences, treasure the memories, and value the lessons affored to me for the rest of my life because the tenets, precepts, and values are just that priceless. Through all of the ups and downs, good times and bad, I know that I got a lot more from this undergraduate chapter than I could have ever offered it. I could go on and on about the greatness of this particular house in Sigma and the legacy it continues to build 75 years later; however, I'll end modestly by saying these words:

March On March On Ye Mighty Host, Nor Think the Journey Done. Nor of the Future Deeds to Boast, Till We've the Victory Won......